“Government departments and other institutions should intensify their efforts to stop the spread of dengue fever as September weather is conducive to breeding of dengue mosquitoes,” Punjab Health Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu said on Wednesday.
He was presiding over a cabinet committee meeting to review the steps being taken to control the spread of dengue fever.
Sindhu directed the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) to drain water from vacant plots and grounds. He said chemical treatment should be undertaken at places where removal of water was not possible.
Public representatives from Lahore and other districts, secretaries of several government departments, the Lahore commissioner, the Faisalabad DCO and senior officers of the institutions concerned attended the meeting.
Health Secretary Hassan Iqbal told the meeting that 748mm of rain had been recorded this year compared to 209mm in 2012.
“Despite heavy rains the occurrence of dengue fever is less than 2012 and the breeding of dengue mosquito is limited,” he said.
Iqbal said 1,090 confirmed dengue fever patients had been reported in Sindh so far resulting in 11 deaths. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said, 2,500 confirmed dengue fever patients had been reported. Seven of these had died, he said.
“In Punjab, 104 confirmed dengue patients have been reported. 14 of them are under treatment at hospitals,” he said.
He said the departments concerned including the Health Department should remain on alert to cope with any emergency. He said that the Health Department was in contact with the KP government and had offered it technical support.
“Twenty bottles of Dextron-40 have been sent to Swat…vector surveillance and larvaeciding activities are being undertaken from union council to provincial level,” he added.
The environment secretary told the meeting that 124 notices had been issued to owners of properties where dengue larvae had been found. He said 205 FIRs had been registered in this regard. He said most cases of dengue larvae being found in Lahore were being reported in Wagha Town.
The Lahore commissioner said Town Emergency Response Committees were regularly holding meetings. He said the Solid Waste Management, the Parks and Horticulture Authority, Water and Sanitation Agency and Rescue 1122 were working together for dengue control.
The secretaries and senior officers of Social Welfare, Local Government and Labour Departments, the PITB, briefed the meeting regarding the dengue control activities by their departments.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2013.